The present invention relates generally to commercial trucks and more specifically to landscape trucks used by landscaping professionals to haul equipment and supplies.
Landscape professionals have long used specialized trucks to haul equipment such as mowers, blowers, hand tools, and the like to a job site. These trucks, known as landscape trucks, generally are provided with a shallow flat bed sized to hold the equipment and a ramp system for driving or otherwise loading equipment into the bed. In one common design, the ramp system includes a rear extension of the bed that slopes downwardly toward and extends partially to the ground. A tailgate usually is hingedly mounted to the back edge of the rear extension. The tailgate can be swung on its hinges between a stowed position, wherein the gate extends upwardly for preventing equipment from falling out of the bed, and a deployed position wherein the gate extends from the back edge of the rear extension to the ground. When the gate is in its deployed position, the gate and the rear extension together form a ramp extending from the ground to the bed of the landscape truck. Mowers and other equipment can then be driven or pushed up the ramp into the bed, whereupon the gate is raised to its stowed position for transportation.
Landscaping professionals also have frequent need to deliver landscaping supplies such as fill dirt, mulch, topsoil, gravel, stones, bricks, and the like to a job site. When such a need arises, it is commonly necessary that a separate dump truck be commissioned for hauling the supplies to the job site and dumping it on the ground. Unfortunately, the landscape truck used to haul equipment generally is not suitable for hauling and dumping dirt and other supplies because the bed of the truck cannot be raised to dump the supplies. Even if the landscape truck was equipped with a bed raising mechanism, actual raising of the bed still would be precluded because the rear extension would quickly impact the ground. Thus, landscape professionals historically have used both a landscape truck and a dump truck when equipment and supplies must be delivered to a job. The necessity of using different types of trucks to haul different loads obviously results in increased costs of operation in the form of increased insurance, maintenance, fuel, and operation costs. Further, additional personnel are oftentimes required to operate two or more trucks, which increases payroll and related costs.
Thus, a need exists for a truck that can be used by landscape professionals to haul equipment to a job site in the customary manner and also to haul and easily dispense landscaping supplies such as dirt, mulch, gravel, and the like. Such a truck should include an easy-to-use ramp assembly for driving equipment onto the bed of the truck and, should also include a raiseable bed for dumping dirt and other supplies onto the ground. It is to the provision of such a truck that the present invention is primarily directed.
Briefly described, the present invention, in one preferred embodiment thereof, comprises an improved landscape truck that hauls equipment in the usual way and that doubles as a dump truck for hauling and dumping landscaping supplies. The truck includes a cab, behind which a truck bed is mounted. The bed has a floor, sidewalls, and a front wall and a hydraulic lifting assembly is provided for selectively raising the bed to a dumping position. An articulateable ramp assembly is mounted on pivot arms to the rear end portion of the bed. The ramp assembly includes a deck and a tailgate hingedly mounted to the back edge of the deck. The ramp assembly can be pivoted on its pivot arms by hydraulic cylinders between a lowered position, wherein the ramp assembly extends rearwardly from the bed in much the same configuration as in a standard landscape truck, and a raised position wherein the ramp assembly is positioned over the bed of the truck displaced from the rear end thereof. When the ramp assembly is in its lowered position, the deck of the assembly preferably slopes downwardly from the rear end of the truck bed and the tailgate can be deployed to form a ramp for driving equipment onto the bed. When the ramp assembly is in its raised position displaced from the rear end of the bed, the bed of the truck may be raised to dump its contents without the ramp assembly engaging the ground or otherwise being in the way.
Accordingly, an improved landscape truck is now provided that serves both the functions of a traditional landscape truck and a dump truck. The landscape professional may use the truck to haul equipment and also may use it to haul and dump dirt and other landscaping supplies at the job site. The requirement that two separate trucks be employed is therefore eliminated, as is the trouble and added expense of using two trucks. Indeed, the landscape professional may load the truck first with dirt or other supplies and then drive equipment onto the bed of the truck behind the dirt. At the job site, the ramp assembly is deployed for unloading the equipment from the bed, whereupon the ramp assembly can be moved to its raised position and the bed raised to dump the dirt on the ground. These and other features, objects, and advantages of this invention will become more apparent upon review of the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures, which are briefly described as follows.